Forty Years Of Sesame Street Teaching America Spanish

Sesame Street turns forty today. The show premiered in November of 1969 with the idea to engage children from poor and inner city communities long enough to educate them. The cast, at first, was both white and African-American, but in 1971, bilingual education was brought to the show with the addition of the characters of Maria and Luis. Twenty years later, not a kegger went by in college that some frat boy didn’t drop an awkward, Spanish-language pick-up line on us that they cobbled together from their Sesame Street education. And though we grew up in a bi-lingual home, we learned some of our first Spanish words from the show, too. Plus, it was one of the few things on television back then (along with Chico and the Man) that made us feel like we  were part of the real, American experience. So, let’s take a look back at some of the Spanish lessons learned on forty years of Sesame Street.

We learned what to call our body parts for future bouts of Seven Minutes In Heaven.

We learned that the Southwestern United States is really Aztlan.

We learned that some Puerto Rican siblings have the same father.

We learned how to call some annoying piece of trash by the correct word.

We learned to sing a song and not to worry if it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear. As long as we sound like Gloria Estefan.

We learned that Hispanic muppets are purple.

We learned the pain and treachery of crossing the Sonoran Desert.

We learned that taking peyote is fun.

We learned that Puerto Rican muppets have afros.

And we learned that Latin chicks always get the boys.